Graduation
by Ailith Night
Summary: It has been four years since Danny Fenton became Danny Phantom. Now, nearing the end of high school for his friends, Danny finds that he doesn't have enough credits to graduate. Mr. Lancer offers an assignment that could help, but it risks the secret he has held dear so long now. How will the much older, more mature Danny cope? Phantom planet happened, but Danny wasn't revealed.
1. Chapter 1

Danny Fenton took a long look at the paper and sighed, but didn't complain. He hadn't complained since freshman year. It was senior year now. The end of senior year. Sam and Tuck had wide grins on their faces. They shared a look, then turned to him. The grins faded into looks of worry. He shook his head, but gave them a small smile. Sam and tucker looked back down at their own transcripts which, granted they didn't fail anything in the next month, guaranteed that they would graduate. Danny looked back at his own, particularly the red circle around his English credits. He still needed an extra half a credit. Half a credit, missing since freshman year. Freshman year had been rough on the teen, learning how to cope with his abilities and responsibilities. He had fallen into a hole in that first half, completely failing that semester and losing that half credit, and many others in various classes. In the last three years, he had managed to claw his way back up, almost out of that hole, picking up his missing credits. But still he lacked that one half credit. The only way to get that credit back would be to make a perfect 100 for the rest of the year, and even then it might not be enough. And when he was barely maintaining a B average, it was nearly impossible. He brought his weary eyes up to those of his English teacher, Mr. Lancer, who had been much kinder since sophomore year, when Danny really worked hard to make up for his failure. The teacher met his pupil's gaze with sadness. Danny simply sighed.

The bell rang. "Mr. Fenton, could you see me please?" Danny, Sam, and Tucker paused in the doorway. "Just Daniel please. You two go on to class."

The trio shared a look. "Go ahead. I'll catch up when I can."

"Are you sure man?" Tucker glanced at the teacher, unsure himself. The bald one had been kinder, but was still strict on his students.

"Yeah. Take notes for me?" Sam nodded. This was the system they had worked out late freshman year, the one that made it possible for Danny to do better. Whenever Danny had to miss for whatever reasons, his friends would take notes on the lecture for him. It worked well and really helped. With only a little reluctance, Sam and Tucker left their best friend alone with the elder adult. "Yes Mr. Lancer?"

"As I'm sure you know, you still lack half a credit of my class to graduate."

Danny sighed again. "No need to remind me sir, I'm aware." Lancer smiled sheepishly.

"However, I have some good news." Danny perked up immediately. His shoulders squared and his back straightened. Lancer was almost shocked by the sudden change. In the last three years, Danny had grown, filled in to himself. He was no longer the wimpy little weakling from ninth grade. He was taller, though still several inches shorter than Dash and the other jocks. There was some muscle visible through the baggy clothes draped over the adolescent. In truth, his current stance would utterly bewilder anyone else who looked. Mr. Lancer smiled. This was the Danny he liked, the determined, confident boy he hadn't met until they began their credit recovery sessions after school. "I have spoken with the other teachers and they all agree. It would be unfair not to give you a chance since you have been working so hard to try and graduate this year." A tentative smile touched Danny's lips. Mr. Lancer grew solemn and serious. "It won't be easy. In fact, it would be difficult, but we think we have found a way for you to recover your last half credit." Freshman Danny would have broken into a full blown grin at the mere prospect, despite the difficulty. Senior Danny was smarter, more mature. He heard the tone of his teacher's voice. He listened to the words carefully. It would be unwise to take on more than he could handle. That's what got him in this mess in the first place.

"What would I have to do?"

"An essay." Lancer held up a hand for silence when Danny was about to tell him that didn't sound too hard. "25 pages, single spaced, 12 point font, on my desk at least a week before graduation. No extensions and keep in mind, you have to keep your grades up in you other classes." Danny thought. His eyebrows scrunched in concentration. On the one hand, if he could do well on this, he would get his credit and graduate with Sam and Tucker. On the other hand, he did have other commitments outside of school, responsibilities he could not, under any circumstances, flake out on. But, graduation…

"What would the topic be?"

Mr. Lancer grinned. "I'm glad you asked." He reached into his desk and pulled out a book. It was a new book, very popular, almost flying off the shelves. Danny was surprised he teacher had managed to get a copy. The teacher saw this. "I pre-ordered." Danny nodded and studied the book. "A Ghostly Tale, written by an anonymous author under the pseudonym King Deadman." Danny nodded again. His eyebrows scrunched down again, though this time in distaste. There were many theories about the book and its author. It followed the story of a young teenager who dies in a lab accident and becomes a ghost. The ghost teen, known as Spector, goes on to stay in his hometown and protect it from other ghosts. Most people believe the book is secretly Danny Phantom's autobiography. Danny is disturbed by the story and its accuracies inter-spaced with complete fiction. He did not write that book. "Your task is to use this book and any other necessary resources to debate whether or not it was written by Phantom, or if it is in any way accurate to his life." Once more, Danny nodded. He could do that. It should be easy. But the risk. Four years now, for four years he had kept his secret. It hadn't been easy and the Disasteriod incident had almost destroyed it, but he had managed. But one wrong word in this essay and POOF! No more secret identity. Danny was torn. His parents still didn't trust Phantom, despite him having saved their son in the ghost-zone during the disasteroid. He didn't think they would ever accept his alter-ego. But still, graduation was important to him. He had discovered that if he could maintain his grade and graduate, Amity Park Community College would accept him and he could start working towards a degree in aerospace engineering. The furrow dissolved from his brow and Mr. Lancer looked expectantly at him.

"I'll do it." Mr. Lancer smiled warmly at him and gave him the book.

"Wonderful! I expect you'll do fine. You're a good student Danny and," Danny stared at the book while Lancer wrote him a late note to class. Some small voice nagged in the back of his mind, saying 'This is a really bad idea.' Danny found himself suddenly filled with a chilling sense of dread. Shivers travelled up his spine thinking about it. A blue wisp of breathe escaped his parted lips as, wait. What? That's not normal dread. That's his ghost sense! "I expect great things from you Mr. Fenton." Mr. Lancer looked up at the empty room. "Danny?"

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ MY FIRST DANNY PHANTOM FANFIC! So, what do ya'll think? I really need to know cause I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this. :/ Anyway, leave a comment please!

In other news, I am aware I need to update my Black Butler stuff. I'm trying, okay? I kind of lost my inspiration on them and I don't want to end it with Sh**** stuff.


	2. Chapter 2

Mere moments after Danny felt his ghost sense go off, a shrill scream pierced the air. Half a moment after that, the Ghost evacuation alarm went off and several hundred students stampeded out the doors. With an intangible helping hand, Danny had stashed is backpack and pulled the thermos from his locker. Based on the sound of the original scream, Danny guessed the ghost was in the computer lab. He arched a brow at the notion, quite certain he had sent Technus back into the Ghost Zone just last night. He was usually slower to return than this. More screams echoed across nearly silent halls, which got Danny in motion. In one graceful leap, Fenton kicked himself off the ground, changed and Phantom took off towards the shrill sound piercing the otherwise still air. When he made it to the lab, the sight was grim. The normally talkative ghost hadn't even bothered with one of his long winded tirades. The mad scientist had merely carelessly ripped electric cables from the wall and floor and plugged in his latest tech. A stray cable was sparking not five feet from a huddle of students pressing themselves against the back wall. None of them could escape without first passing the cable, then the ghost. A few terrified wails still rang in Danny's ears as a couple of jocks, of course Dash among them, forced themselves further back, resulting in the nerds being pushed forward. Not that it would matter if the cable got too close. Danny knew that with such close proximity, if one got shocked, they all would. "Let them go Technus. Maybe if you walk away peacefully, I won't have to kick your glitchy hindquarters back into the Ghost Zone." He looked up, only now noticing the halfa's presence.

"Glitchy? I'm not glitchy! I am the master of all things technological! And you, Danny Phantom, will spoil my plans for world domination no more!" The machine Technus had been charging came to life. Danny stared in abject horror at the sight coming to life before him. Because the machine was no mere machine.

"Wonderful. My prey comes to me." The mechanized ghost stood and faced Danny. Danny's face was shock and utter bewilderment. His mind, however, was already running through calculations. Technus was easy. His only problem was technological world domination. He didn't cause much damage, especially to his precious machines. Skulker was different. Skulker was vicious and violent and wanted to hang Danny's pelt on his wall. Skulker could cause damage and hurt these people. He was also a machine. The two teaming up was a dangerous thing all around. Not to mention being vaguely familiar. Danny glared at the hunter.

"Skulker? What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like, whelp? I have decided to form a temporary alliance with Technus in order to defeat you." Danny nodded, having already gotten past this.

"So, you just here to charge your batteries or did you come to cause trouble?"

"Both of course, Ghost Child!" During his staring match with Skulker, Technus had snuck up behind Danny with the stray cable and stuck it in his back.

"AHHHHHHH!" Danny whirled around to face Technus, only to have Skulker blast him in the back with an ecto-gun. His mind racing through possibilities and very much aware of the people who still could not escape, Danny went intangible and jetted himself through the roof. The two ghosts followed and Danny could just see the students scurry to get away before they returned. "You know Skulker, I expected Technus would need help, but I thought you were better than that."

"Did you just insult me, Ghost Child? Why you-!"

"Hush. He seeks to break apart our comradery. A sensible tactic, but it will fail nonetheless."

"And what does your on again off again girlfriend Ember think of this, Skulker? Or are you guys having another little spat?" Skulker grinned coldly while he started to maneuver himself to the other side so that Danny would have to choose which ghost to look at.

"You won't be able to bait me, whelp." Technus shocked him from behind again and he twisted around to face him, only for Skulker to slash at him with a blade. The white hot metal tore into his flesh and cut the stitches from an injury made from that same blade two days ago. Sam was going to kill him for that one. Quickly running out of options for any kind of peaceful resolution, Danny knew he would have to fight. He charged an ectoblast in each hand and aimed it at each enemy.

"Last chance." Skulker slashed his blade, Danny dodged, and Technus flooded his system with more electricity. An annoyed look on his face, Danny thought 'This is going to be long and unpleasant.'

And it was. Half an hour later, though it felt much longer to the now battered superhero, Danny landed heavily on the concrete and simply laid there, metal canister held firmly in his hands. He groaned as residual electricity caused his muscles to spasm again. The ectoplasm always help on to electricity longer than was necessarily comfortable for either half of him. The twitching aggravated his new wounds. Thankfully, it was mostly bruises. The only thing bleeding was the long gash down and across his back. That one was seeping green blood onto the stone beneath him and might need to be re-stitched. But that was the worst injury and Danny knew he would live through it, seeing as he had before. Still, better get to Sam soon. Through his mental checkup, he hadn't noticed footsteps. "Phantom? Dude, are you alright?" Danny looked up into the face of his long time tormentor and biggest 'Phan' Dash.

"I'll be fine. Just gotta rest a minute."

"Are you sure man? I mean, I could help if you need it." Tempting as the offer sounded, Dash probably couldn't stitch wounds and it would be ridiculous to ask him to help him get to Sam. So Danny forced himself into a sitting position and looked Dash in the eye, an easy grin on his face.

"Thanks, but that's alright. I'll manage. You should probably get back to class." Dash looked back at the school building. He had cut the first 10 minutes of Home ec to watch the rest of the fight. Not that he cared. He only took that class for the stupid credit. Still, too many detentions and coach would make him sit out next game. Dash nodded and reluctantly left his hero there. Danny stared after him for several moments before the whine of an ecto-gun drew his attention.

"Freeze spook!" He groaned and forced himself into flight. Of all the times for his parents to show up. It would be lunch before Danny could safely and discreetly slip back into the school building.

* * *

 ** _AN:_** Mwahaha. Okay, nice little fight scene for ya. I didn't know if this should be classified as Kplus or T, so I'm gonna leave it Kplus for now and if someone thinks I should bump it up to T, leave a comment and I will. With any luck I'll have the next chapter out later tonight, but no promises. Until next time -Carida^^


	3. Chapter 3

It was lunch before Danny finally shook his parents. By then, he was feeling woozy from blood loss, not to mention the occasional spasm from electricity still circling his system. He would have to find something to discharge with before it would all be gone.

Sam checked her phone for the 57th time since the ghost alarm went in the middle of second period. It was now lunch. "Come on Sam, he's fine. If wasn't he would have called by now. You know him."

"Exactly. I know him. Enough to know that he is stubborn enough to risk his life before his secret." Tucker frowns, considering.

"But where could he be that_" He stops as Sam's phone rings and she immediately flips it open.

"Danny?" She listens for a moment, becoming pale as she does. Tucker starts to worry. "Okay, be right there." She hangs up and pulls Tucker up, practically running from the lunch room. "We need the kit from my locker." Tucker blanched, knowing there was only one reason Sam would need her sewing kit, and forced himself to run faster.

They found their friend tucked away behind the bleachers. This was of course, not their normal spot for meeting up, but that only made matters worse for Tucker and Sam. They couldn't imagine what kind of state their friend was in if he couldn't even make it to the abandoned science lab. This particular lab was the favorite haunt of an only mildly annoying little kid ghost who didn't seem to mind sharing the place with the infamous Danny Phantom. The trio often tried not to remember the battle that lead to the young boy's spirit being trapped in the high school. It was a dark day for everyone and the ghost responsible, well, they try not to think about her either. Suffice it to say, Electra will never cause any more trouble for anyone. No, the fact that Danny couldn't make it the extra few meters to the lab was far from reassuring. They were prepared for the worst when they walked around the corner and found Danny slumped against the metal legs holding the wooden seats up.

"Danny?" At the sound of Sam's voice, the white haired teen lifted weary eyes. Another electric spasm rocked his form and he grabbed the bleacher for support as it finally flowed out of his ectoplasmic form. Human Danny would be tasting metal for a week. Sam walked up and put a hand in his chest, feeling for the light flutter that said there was still a living human in there. Light it was, but not indiscernible, normal for his ghost form. "What happened?" Danny stood still for a minute, half lidded eyes gazing vacantly as he tried to think through the fuzzy static currently attempting to fill his mind.

"…Technus and… Skulker, teamed up. Technus shocked me, a lot. Skulker… Skulker reopened the cut from a couple days ago. I took care of them okay but… but… but then my parents showed up and I… I flew around for a while before I could lose them and come back." Danny was proud of himself for remembering and managing not to pass out during the retelling. He had lost a fair bit of ectoplasm, though there was a lot dried over and keeping most of the rest inside him. Even so, every few seconds, a stray drop would roll down his back and pool in the dust at his feet. When was the last time it had rained? A week ago? Two? Last month? Danny couldn't seem to recall. Oh, hey! It looks like Sam is saying something.

"Danny? Danny!" Danny's head jerked up to look at his friend. She had a rather concerned look on her face. That wasn't right. Sam should smile. Sam looks pretty when she smiled. Danny raised his hand to stroke the worry away as he had done countless times before when Sam gave him that look. Or rather, he tried to. His head rolled down to look at his gloved hand. Except, it wasn't gloved anymore. Huh. When had he changed back? He didn't recall doing so. Weird. His ears picked up on the faint sound of a far off mother yelling for her son Danny. Another kid named Danny? Eh, weirder things have happened. And Danny couldn't really concentrate on that right now as the ground started spinning upwards.

Sam officially switched to mother mode when two white rings appeared, spreading across Phantom's body, leaving Fenton in its place, who promptly started to collapse. "Danny! Danny!" She moved forward just in time to catch him and lay him gently on his side. She pulled one of his eyelids back with her thumb, revealing that the eye had rolled back into the head. Danny was out cold. "Tucker, help me out here."

"What do you need me to do." Tucker was already opening up the small sewing kit, looking through it for the specially purchased, curved needles for sewing flesh. His hands trembled as his nosocomephobia tried to kick in. He pushed it down, reminding himself that this was not a hospital, but a friend in dire need of medical attention.

"First, help me get his shirt off. Blood is already trying to leak through." Together, the two managed to maneuver the thick white fabric off of Danny. Now that Danny wasn't in his ghost form, which had enough blood dried to hold some in, red liquid was starting to form little streams on his back. When finished, they laid him on his stomach right below a slat to allow in some light. "Tweezers and disinfectant wipes." Tucker handed them over and Sam started disinfecting the wound before pulling out the remnants of the old thread, mind drifting back to the first time she had stitched him up. It hadn't taken long to discover that just as wounds would transfer, thankfully so would the stitches. "Go ahead and thread the needle. We've no time to waste." Tucker did as he was told, trying very hard not to think about any of this. Instead, he tried very hard to delude himself into thinking he was just helping his mother with some sewing project or another. He almost succeeded, but when Sam reached her hand out, he caught glimpse of its curve and the illusion faded. He watched her skilled and efficient hands work the needle back and forth through the flesh. For a brief moment, he was pierced with sadness that an 18-year-old was this good at stitching her boyfriend back together. She snipped the thread and handed him the needle back. "Bandages."

He spoke while handing her the thick roll of gauze. "He'll be alright, won't he?" She looked up at him, a fierce look in her eyes. Then she turned back to her patient as she applied the gauze, mumbling out a response.

"He better be, or else I'm gonna kill him. Help me get him to the van." She was, of course, referring to the vehicle she had gotten when she got her license. She parked it behind the school, away from prying eyes for instances just like this. The three front seats were just that. But the back had cleared to make room for a cot and a couple of chairs. Together, Sam and Tucker lifted their battered friend and snuck him to her van for some rest, then decided to ditch the rest of the day, choosing to wait for Danny to wake up.


	4. Chapter 4

Danny felt like he was at the bottom of the ocean and the great weight of the waves was holding him there. The sensation was only mildly uncomfortable. He had long since grown accustomed to this sensation, having had the misfortune of experiencing it several times before. He lifted his head and baby blues met radioactive green. Phantom and Fenton sat cross legged in front of each other, just a few centimeters of space distancing them from each other. No matter how many times Danny came here, the sight of himself was always slightly jarring. Phantom was a part of himself and seeing him separate felt deeply unnatural. Oddly enough, Danny had never come here and seen through Phantom's eyes. Long hours had been spent trying to understand why, to no avail. So much of Danny's ghostly half was still a mystery. Danny raised a hand and a gloved one mirrored him. He smiled. Even separated, the two parts were in perfect sync. The hands approached each other until they touched upon the cool, glass like surface between them. Danny wished he could get beyond that barrier, and actually touch his ghost self. But Danny knew it was impossible. His lips twitched back into a frown and he sighed. He turned and tipped back, falling slowly and gently onto the soft surface on which he sat, now parallel to his ghost self. He looked up into an abyss of darkness. The only light in this place seemed to emanate from the Dannys. His mind wandered away from his ghost self. Nothing could be gained from thinking on that. Instead Danny drudged up the memories of what brought him here.

He thought of the fight, how odd it was that Technus and Skulker would team up, yet Danny felt he had most definitely seen a similar scene before. He thought of his parents, how they were more danger to him than any ghost he had faced before. If he had gone straight to Sam, he wouldn't be here. But they chased him away and delayed the help he needed. It was saddening, Danny thought, that he would never be able to truly trust his parents. At this point, he is just as scared about his parent's accepting him as them rejecting him. All those close calls, those near deaths at his parent's hands. He never wants them to know how close they were to killing their son. They would hate themselves. With a sigh, he turned his thoughts to Sam and Tucker. They were probably worried. How long had he been here now? It was hard to tell. It could have been hours or days or the span of a single second. Danny remembered once where he had been here so long, thinking until he had no more thoughts to think and he was left just laying here with Phantom by his side for an eternity. When at last he woke at last, his friends were by his side, begging him to get up before Electra hurt anyone else. That poor boy. Danny shut down that line of thought. It was a dark and dangerous path that always led nowhere good, to deeds too malevolent even for Dan. Danny shuddered and turned to face his counterpart. "What we did was wrong and we must never do it again." Phantom mirrored the words. Danny sighed.

"I hope we aren't out too long. I hate to worry Sam. And Tucker. Someday we'll have to tell them about this place." Some part of Danny hated the very thought. This place is his. It belongs to him and him alone. It's a safe place to retreat to when he's close to death. Closer to death. "How many times have we come now? Nearing the triple digits, I know. First was the portal, where I first met you. Then every time since. That's how many times I have almost died. That's a lot of times in 4 years. 4 years. I thought I would know much more about you by now. I thought I would have everything figured out. But if it weren't for Sam and Tuck, I would be just as lost now as I was back then. Back when? How long? I want to say we must have been hear an hour now, but I know it is impossible for us to tell. I wish we had a clock here." As if those were the magic words, a clock appeared. Surprised, Danny checked it. The display flashed red: Now. "Helpful." It vanished. Danny wondered, not for the first time, where he really was. This wasn't a dream. Danny doesn't dream like this. He dreams of space and the future and worlds unknown. Sometimes tests and occasionally ghost fights, once in a while Vlad and rarely Dan. Danny doesn't dream like this. Danny dreams of friends and family and life and Tucker and Sam. Mostly Sam. If Danny closed his eyes now, he could picture her. And Tucker. She'd be sitting in the front seat with Tucker, bickering half-heartedly about something or another, probably Tucker's PDA or maybe she found Tucker's Emergency Roast Beef. Danny chuckled. He could almost hear them now. Or rather, he really could hear them now. He blinked open his eyes to see the red velvety roof of Sam's Van. He sat up slowly, carefully, quietly; very much aware of the fresh stitches in his back that pulled painfully as he moved. His eyes landed on a small table which held a bottle of water and a few Tylenol. Danny reached for them, but fumbled, scattering the pills across the table and knocking the bottle to the floor. This of course, alerted his friends to his consciousness.

"Danny!" They spoke in unison. Sam clambered of the seat first, clutching a notebook of tic-tac-toe boards, and Tucker followed. He grabbed the bottle from the floor and the pills from the table. Sam wrapped Danny in a hug, then pulled back to look him in the eye. Danny returned her gaze sheepishly. She slapped him over the head with the notebook.

"Don't you ever do that to us again! We were worried sick!" Tucker handed Danny the medication, which Danny gladly took.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I was going to come to you straight away, but my parents showed, at the most importune moment as usual. You know how they are, I had to run." Danny swallowed the pills and chugged the water, the whole bottle since he was taking 6 at once and needed to stay hydrated. Danny had once considered stealing some hydrocodone or oxycodone, but getting caught with stolen prescription drugs would be more trouble than its worth. Besides, 6 Tylenol isn't going to do any damage to Danny Phantom. "How long was I out?"

Tucker responded. "It's 7pm. You got to us about 12:30, so you've been unconscious about 6 and a half hours."

"Wow," Danny chuckled. "That's like the average amount of sleep I get at night." Tucker smiled, knowing his friend was going to be all right. Sam wacked him upside the head again, then simply stared at his pale blue eyes. Danny stared back and they sat like that for several moments before Tucker started feeling awkward and decided to make conversation.

"So, what did Lancer want this morning?" They broke eye contact. Sam turned away, blushing. Tucker snickered. Danny looked at him and gave an easy grin.

"He had a proposition for me. A way I could recover my English credit and graduate."

"Really?" Sam exclaimed. "How?"

"Easy. I have to write a 25 page, single space, 12 point font essay."

"That doesn't sound-" Danny held up a finger to silence him.

"An essay about A Ghostly Tale and its possible relation to Danny Phantom." His friends processed this in silence. Sam was the first to speak.

"That book makes me uncomfortable." Tucker nodded.

"None of us wrote it, but it gets eerily close to the real story."

"I know. And we're going to have to investigate that eventually. Might as well make a grade for it. And think, if I can just get a C, I'll maintain my GPA and regain my credit, graduate on time and I can go to community college." Sam frowned delicately.

"You know Danny, there are tons of schools that would probably still take you if you applied."

"I know, but Amity Park still needs Danny Phantom. Danny Phantom can't help if he's at University." Sam sighed. She didn't like that ghosts had such control over her friend's life. She liked less that she and Tucker would both be going off to State while Danny would be left here to defend Amity Park alone.

"What are you going to do if you get in trouble like today while we are away."

"There are others who can help. Even a few ghosts have offered before. I just trust you more than anyone else."

"Lovebirds." Tucker coughed. Sam scowled at him. Danny just smiled. Sam scowled at him too.

"Okay. Time to go. Tucker, get your filthy meat sandwich off my seat."

"It's good Sam. You should try it."

"No thanks." They continued their argument while the trio moved in unison, familiar with their environment. Tucker grabbed his sandwich and chose to sit in the lawn chair held against the wall with a seatbelt. There he could eat his roast beef in relative peace. Danny took the other seat, an old desk chair that had had its wheels removed and been bolted to the floor. Sam took the driver's seat and off they went.


End file.
